‘Landowners asked for commercial zoning'
KUALA Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) says landowners of the 120-year-old Vivekananda Ashram in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, asked for its site to be zoned as 'main commercial'.
Its City Planning Department senior deputy director Rosli Nordin said the ashram landowners and other landowners in the vicinity requested for the change in zoning status for the 0.4ha site.
The site was recently zoned as 'main commercial' under Kuala Lumpur Local Plan 2040 while the ashram building is classified as 'Category 1 Heritage Building' under National Heritage Act 2005.
'We obtained their opinions through procedures under Rule 7 in Planning (Development) Rules 1970,' Rosli said at a conference held in Kuala Lumpur.
He was responding to session moderator Charles Tan, a member of the Save Kuala Lumpur Coalition.
Tan said the area was not classified as 'main commercial' in the 2020 local plan, so the recent zoning was actually a change.
The conference themed 'Moving Towards a Sustainable City' was organised by Kuala Lumpur Residents Action for Sustainable Development Association and attracted about 100 attendees.
It featured three panel sessions that discussed the issues of transparency and public participation in development control processes, hill land management, and urban renewal.
Another heated exchange occurred during a session discussing urban renewal.
Concerns were raised about the proposed Urban Renewal Act (URA), which an attendee alleged does not include homeowners and residents, and would grant too much power to the minister in charge.
He also questioned the need to lower the consent threshold from 80% to 75%.
In answer, Town and Country Planning Department (PLANMalaysia) head of technical drafting unit Lilian Tai said URA would not grant excessive power to the minister.
'If you read through the law, the minister is not the only member of the executive committee responsible for urban renewal,' she said.
She added that the government was opening up an avenue for residents to be involved in the development of URA.
The attendee urged Tai and the relevant authorities to visit the 139 sites earmarked for redevelopment, to obtain residents' feedback.
Tai replied that the 139 sites were only 'potential' sites for redevelopment.
'Even if the sites were already gazetted for redevelopment, the developer still needs to go through a consultation process led by the government.
'The project won't take off if it is not viable,' she explained.
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